Judge`s Stolen Car Recovered

HOLLYWOOD -- A Broward County Court judge, accustomed to admonishing defendants, found himself guilty of acting improperly on Monday.

He left his keys to his car inside the vehicle outside of a convenience store.

Judge Irwin Berkowitz parked his leased 1986 Chevrolet Cavalier about 12:20 a.m. in front of a 7-Eleven store in the 3200 block of Stirling Road. Berkowitz said he left the keys in the car while he ran inside the store to get a newspaper.

When Berkowitz came back out, the car was gone.

``It can happen to anybody -- you can`t drop your guard for a minute,`` Berkowitz said.

Luckily for Berkowitz, Broward Sheriff`s Deputy Robert Smart, on routine patrol in Lauderdale Lakes, kept his guard up. A short time after Hollywood Police Officer J.D. Lewis broadcast a description of the stolen car, Smart spotted it heading north in the 4900 block of State Road 7.

Smart pulled in behind the vehicle and attempted a traffic stop, but the car turned right on Commercial Boulevard and accelerated. The two cars raced east through red lights at speeds over 100 mph.

Police said the driver, John Stewart, 22, of the 1500 block of Northwest 17th Place, lost control of the vehicle in the 1500 block of Northwest 17th Street. The vehicle spun out into a field, and Stewart bailed out and ran, as did his passenger -- his brother, Christopher Gauldin, police said. Stewart evaded police, while Gauldin, 18, of the same address, was found hiding in a clump of weeds and bushes by a dog named Dirty Harry and by Deputy W.M. Friels, police said.

Stewart was arrested later that morning after his mother called police and turned her son in. Both men were charged with grand theft auto and resisting arrest without violence.

``What`s good here is that it came to a successful conclusion, the car was returned, the men were apprehended,`` Berkowitz said. ``I`ll tell you what. I`m taking both officer Lewis and Smart to lunch, if not dinner.``